A question for Tom and Chuck at the AP: Why wouldn't these states be moving in the same direction as the two most respected national polls? The answer is that they probably are. If the GOP nominee wins the eight states just listed -- a three-point move similar to the one we've just seen nationally would put him ahead in all but Nevada -- he'll be on track for an Electoral College majority, even if the three electors exploring the idea of withholding their votes for the honor and glory of Ron Paul go through with their threats.

Team Obama's reaction to the deadlocked polls at Rasmussen and Gallup -- besides to have its Department of Justice Unconstitutional Electoral Intervention continue its support of a "whistleblower" lawsuit against the latter filed by a disgruntled ex-employee who just so happens to be a self-declared "devout Marxist" and former Obama Iowa field organizer -- is telling. Campaign apparatchik Jim Messina said we should ignore national polls, because winning battleground states like Wisconsin is what matters. W-W-Wisconsin? On Sunday, the Badger State was "Leaning Obama" at RCP. Messina's reaction would indicate that if the tide is indeed turning, it's in the opposite direction the AP and the rest of the press want everyone to believe.

It's not like there's a shortage of administration and campaign "miscues" one can cite as possible reasons for a movement towards Romney, particularly in foreign policy.

In Egypt and Libya, the administration was apparently so convinced of its supposedly awesome diplomatic accomplishments in placating the Muslim world that it treated September 11 as just another day, allowing organized "protesters" to enter the gates of the Egyptian embassy in Cairo and Islamist terrorists to carry out an assault on the Libyan consulate in Benghazi which took the life of ambassador Christopher Stevens -- the first such loss in 33 years -- and three others.

In the aftermath of these disasters, the administration spent almost a full week bitterly insisting that the Libyan consulate attack was a "spontaneous" reaction to a 14-minute video made in July, and not the coordinated, premeditated attack that it was. Most of those among the relatively disengaged who were paying even a little attention had to see through this facade, and to shake their heads at the ultimate admission to what was so obvious from the very start.

Even now, violent protests including plural effigy-burnings of Obama continue against the U.S., exposing the "Arab Spring" as the cynical farce so many seasoned observers always knew it was. All of this has many Americans asking a question -- "Are we safer now than we were four years ago?" -- that was hardly on anyone's radar on Labor Day. As with the equivalent question about the economy ("Are we better off than we were four years ago?") -- they are answering firmly in the negative.

I also believe that the secret recording released by David Corn at Mother Jones with Romney observing that 47% of Americans are heavily dependent on government while 47% of Americans pay no income taxes may be hurting Obama more than Romney.